DWTS' Emma Slater Dishes On Dancing With Jimmie Allen - Exclusive

"Dancing with the Stars" pro Emma Slater has had some truly incredible career highs to date, from winning Season 24 of the series to appearing in the movie "Mamma Mia!" alongside Meryl Streep and Colin Firth. For Season 30, Slater was paired with country superstar Jimmie Allen, and the pair hit it off immediately. 

Slater and Allen ended up placing seventh on "Dancing with the Stars" Season 30, but that didn't stop them from celebrating the ultimate winners, Iman Shumpert and Daniella Karagach. "I was so stoked, me and Jimmie. I think everybody in the room was kind of secretly rooting for them," Slater shared with Nicki Swift. "You root for everybody, but there was something very special about the underdog story of Iman. He was so tall compared to his dance partner. Daniella did such a phenomenal job with choreography to the point where some of those routines went viral."

Nicki Swift sat down with Emma Slater to discuss "Dancing with the Stars" and what it was really like being partnered with Jimmie Allen.

When it came to "Dancing with the Stars" Season 30, professional dancer Emma Slater lucked out by being paired with county star Jimmie Allen. "Jimmie Allen is an absolute dream to dance with. He's a wonderful person," Slater revealed to Nicki Swift. "I've never really met anybody who's inspired me so much in my career." She continued, "The amount he's achieved in such a short period of time has been really phenomenal. He's just incredibly nice, super charismatic." 

Slater was also impressed with Allen's work ethic outside of the "Dancing with the Stars" set. "So I would go on tour with him and I would witness him after a gig, come off stage and just greet everybody, talk to everybody, make sure everyone was happy, safe," she reflected. "He would look after, honestly, the small people. You know those genuine people like that, that would really go out of their way to look after the small person in the back that isn't saying anything. That's Jimmie. And to see his career — for instance, yesterday, he just got nominated for a Grammy, which is massive. And to see that happen, I know he would be crying. He's just so grateful for everything." Slater continued, "It just makes me so happy to see good things happen to good people. So dancing with him has been phenomenal. I know we'll be friends for life."

Discussing one of her favorite moments from "Dancing with the Stars" Season 30, Emma Slater revealed, "The memory that I will cherish the most on the live shows, is going to be the contemporary that we did in Halloween Week. ... Jimmie really killed the choreography. He really nailed all of the lifts, the passion, the connection." Slater continued to glow, "I wanted to have this one be a little bit more heartfelt, which is different for Halloween Week. So that to me was really special and I'm really happy with the way it turned out."

And when it came to learning the rigorous routines every week, Slater loved working with Allen. "Everything I told him to do, he did it without answering me back, without getting too frustrated that he got in his own way, he was amazing," she told Nicki Swift. "And he did all of that whilst on the season he had a baby, his wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. He was on tour. He did countless shows." She continued, "He was just all over the place with his work schedule and he really committed to 'Dancing with the Stars.' So I was just so grateful we worked so well together."